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FAST FOODS – SPEED UP YOUR METABOLISM

In this post I am not going to discuss a diet plan, rather the foods that help increase your metabolism and aid with weight loss. This is great to know because most of them taste great and can be added to your diet easily. The concept is; eat more to lose weight! Yippee!

If you’re a big tea drinker like me you might want to convert to green tea. This is number one on my list because its so easy to add to your diet and has so many benefits. Studies have shown that green tea helps burn fat so may be a better alternative to the greatly loved English breakfast. Green tea contains a substance called epigallocatechin gallate or more commonly known as EGCG, which is a substance that stimulates and speeds up your brain and nervous system. In order for your system to be able to run faster more calories must be used to provide the energy for this. Because losing weight is all about using more calories than you intake having this little fella help you along without any effort is awesome!

If you love fruit then adding more apples to your diet wont be a problem at all! Apples are very high in fibre so in order to break it down your body must use more calories. The amount of fibre in an apple also impedes the amount of glucose (sugar or carbohydrate) that is absorbed and converted to fat. By slowing this absorption apples make you feel fuller for longer so not only does it boost your metabolism but also puts an end to unnecessary snacking.

Eating a small amount of nuts a day can help to boost your metabolism. Almonds are a great source of fibre, protein and essential fatty acids and it’s actually the fatty acids that help to boost metabolism. Essential fatty acids are essential because the body cannot produce them; the only way to get them in the body is via food. They are also essential because they are a part of cell structures and hormones within the body. The body does not use essential fatty acids as a fuel and it costs calories to include them into the structures of the body, which is why they increase the metabolism.

If you can handle the heat then adding some spice such as cayenne pepper or chilli to your meat and veggies can help your metabolism along, and if your like me and love some spice then it’ll make your food taste great too. Your body has an intrinsic thermostat that measures the temperature of your body at all times. Each person has a slightly different temperature but the body tries to maintain its internal temperature to approximately 37°C, this process is called thermoregulation. For thermoregulation to work it must use calories (every action in the body costs calories) so by eating spicy food your body temperature rises. This means that more calories are used to fuel thermoregulation to maintain a normal internal temperature.

Lastly I encourage you all to channel Pop-Eye and his radical diet of spinach! Spinach actually does make you stronger and helps boost the metabolism as well as being nutritionally awesome; your muscles will be as big as the sailor man’s in no time! Spinach is full of protein and antioxidants that both build and repair muscle. The more muscle you have on your body (for those that don’t want to look the a body builder do not fear, if you don’t work out like they do you will only gain lean muscle and that just gives a toned and healthy look) the more calories are burnt because it takes a lot more energy to maintain muscle than it does fat.

These are just 5, easy things to add to your diet to help boost your metabolism. Ill give you some more to try next post!

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One response to “FAST FOODS – SPEED UP YOUR METABOLISM”

Love it, great post, I will be introducing Green tea, and using more spinach and nuts in future. I already use chilli on anything I can get away and being English am spoiled for choice on apples already. Thanks